What is ARES?

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization, is eligible for membership in the ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve. Because ARES is an amateur service, only amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.

ARES is a field services organization of the ARRL. There is a chain of command put in place by the ARRL, and all officers in ARES must be ARRL members, and are appointed by the ARRL. The main objective of ARES is to organize emergency training, emergency communications operations, and to organize emergency communications volunteers. Volunteers do not have to be members of the ARRL, or ARES appointees. The primary goal of ARES is an administrative one! The ARRL provides a nationally recognized organization in ARES, thus giving some more credibility to amateur radio emergency communications. The ARRL also provides memorandums of understanding with most of the national served agencies, i.e. Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. Remember, ARES belongs to the ARRL. More detail on ARES may be found at the ARRL website, www.arrl.org, then under the heading of field services.

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How does ARES fit in with the SOARESSS club?

The club's name, Southern Oklahoma Amateur Radio Emergency Services, was chosen completely at random! It was chosen before the club even thought of affiliation with the ARRL. After ARRL affiliation, the club wrote a memorandum of understanding with ARES, establishing the clubs intent to provide emergency services in conjunction with ARES! Many of SOARESSS club members are also ARRL/ARES appointed officers. However, those appointments do not give those officers any position of authority in the business of SOARESSS club. Neither does any position in the SOARESSS club give one authority in the national ARES program.

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Members Interested In This Area

KC5UNL,
N0IRW,
KE5BAL,
KE5CUD,
KD5WUP,
KD5YPF,
AD5SR,
KC5UEG,
KM5OX,
K0RDE,
KC5PMT,
KE5IQG,
KE5UEE

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Member Found Links For This Area

http://www.aresok.org/  [ found by 'kc5unl' ]

This is the home page for the Oklahoma Section of ARES. Contained within it are many resources for dealing with emergencies.

http://www.emergency-radio.org  [ found by 'KC5UNL' ]

This is an introductory web site from the ARRL into the world of emergency communications. It targets non-hams who are interested in how we hams help during an emergency.

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